I think most people like to know what to expect when they first contact a bankruptcy attorney. So, I thought I would just lay it out here.
1. Initial Contact with the Attorney. Obviously, the first step is actually contacting the attorney. Just call the attorney's office (hopefully, you'll be able to speak to the attorney on that call or a return call from the attorney). The attorney will ask some questions, get familiar with you and your situation, and likely discuss fees, expenses, and timelines. Don't be surprised if the attorney wants to know more about your situation before quoting any fees. Those fees may differ based on your circumstances.
2. Initial Attorney Meeting. In that initial phone or email contact, you should set up a meeting with the attorney. The attorney will likely ask you to bring a lot of financial information to this initial meeting and will explore your situation in more detail. The length of the first meeting will vary from attorney to attorney, but most will be able to get through the initial fact-finding and consultation in an hour or hour and a half. If, after reviewing your situation, it appears you will be filing for bankruptcy protection, you should have a fairly clear idea of what you need to do to prepare the forms for filing the bankruptcy.
3. Credit Counseling. You must attend (in person, by phone, or over the internet) approved credit counseling at a maximum of 180 days before filing for bankruptcy. Your attorney will generally help you schedule this and it is often done very shortly before your petition for bankruptcy is filed.
4. Completing Forms. You will start listing ALL of your assets, debts, and any transfers (sales or purchases) that have occurred recently. You'll have to start looking for values for all of your assets, collecting the documents and statements for all of your debts, and begin completing the forms necessary to file with the bankruptcy. There may be several rounds of completing the forms and possibly additional meetings with the attorney, but this phase of the case usually last as long as necessary for you to provide all the information. The faster you get the information together, the faster you get to the next phase. Your attorney will generally be able to help you determine values for many of your assets and talk you through the forms completion process. In many cases (if you have all of your information with you), the attorney can complete a large number of the forms during your initial meeting.
5. Filing Bankruptcy. Once you provide all the information to your attorney, the attorney will require you to certify that the information is true and complete. At that point, you and the attorney will determine the best day to file the bankruptcy petition. Filing as soon as possible is not necessarily the best day. Depending on the chapter under which you file, the best day to file the petition may be days, weeks, or even a month later. When the selected day for filing arrives, the attorney will file the bankruptcy petition. This is the point from which collection calls and letters will typically stop. So, other than a random creditor call or two (to which you just say, I have filed bankruptcy - which should end the call immediately), you should finally have some peace and quiet for a while. You will receive a letter from the Bankruptcy Court and the Bankruptcy Trustee. The Trustee will begin to ask you for additional information and you (with the attorney's help) will respond to these requests.
This is the process leading up to the date your attorney files your bankruptcy petition. I will cover more of the complete bankrupcty process in a later post, but this is what you should expect when you first contact a bankruptcy attorney.
